May 01, 2007
I got my violence in high-def ultrarealism
It's a rare podcast that I enjoy. Part of that is that most of them that I've heard are operating under the delusion that they're on the radio--they include bumpers and whatnot and feel like it's a required mandate to jabber on for a full hour. Most of the time I don't have the patience, and they certainly don't have the charisma, for that. I'm carrying around every album I own in digital form, and the choice between listening to people with delusions of being interesting and whatever latest music has sunk serious earworms into my brain (of late, NiN's "Year Zero") is no choice at all.
There are exceptions, of course. The Hour of Slack obviously gets a pass, for instance. But for the most part, no podcast should be longer than 30 minutes.
History According to Bob understands this. Each one is around 10-15 minutes, and is just a focused mini-lecture on various bits of history. It's the proper use of the format. For instance, now I know that Pancho Villa's widow made a tidy living after his death by continually selling "his" pistol to interested parties--simply replacing the pistol hanging in display after each one was bought, to sell to the next visitor to express interest and discover that she was on hard times without much savings and could be persuaded to part with it. I never would have known that if that was at, say, minute 47 of 60. But with it at minute 8 of 13, education has defeated laziness by allying itself with it. This is Slack.
Also, the dude's delivery reminds me a lot of The Professor Brothers: Bible History #1. Which is an added bonus.
Speaking of digital audio, I've recently discovered that emusic.com has at some point turned into a very solid option for buying mp3s. Good quality--vbr, usually right around 256kbps, as if they used their psychic astral energy vampires to scan my system and steal my own ripping settings for them--and the price is definitely acceptable, boiling down to around 30 cents a track as opposed to the dollar a tune of the inexplicable market leading store.
posted by Gar @ 6:51 AM
There are exceptions, of course. The Hour of Slack obviously gets a pass, for instance. But for the most part, no podcast should be longer than 30 minutes.
History According to Bob understands this. Each one is around 10-15 minutes, and is just a focused mini-lecture on various bits of history. It's the proper use of the format. For instance, now I know that Pancho Villa's widow made a tidy living after his death by continually selling "his" pistol to interested parties--simply replacing the pistol hanging in display after each one was bought, to sell to the next visitor to express interest and discover that she was on hard times without much savings and could be persuaded to part with it. I never would have known that if that was at, say, minute 47 of 60. But with it at minute 8 of 13, education has defeated laziness by allying itself with it. This is Slack.
Also, the dude's delivery reminds me a lot of The Professor Brothers: Bible History #1. Which is an added bonus.
Speaking of digital audio, I've recently discovered that emusic.com has at some point turned into a very solid option for buying mp3s. Good quality--vbr, usually right around 256kbps, as if they used their psychic astral energy vampires to scan my system and steal my own ripping settings for them--and the price is definitely acceptable, boiling down to around 30 cents a track as opposed to the dollar a tune of the inexplicable market leading store.
posted by Gar @ 6:51 AM
